Rate My Hospital Dementia epidemic looms by 2050

London G8 summit to focus attention on global problem increasingly impacting developing countries

Thomson Reuters Posted: Dec 05, 2013 1:49 PM ET Last Updated: Dec 05, 2013 1:49 PM ET

Many governments are woefully unprepared for an epidemic of dementia currently affecting 44 million people worldwide and set to more than triple to 135 million people by 2050, health experts and campaigners said on Thursday.

Fresh estimates from the advocacy group Alzheimer's Disease International (ADI) showed a 17 per cent increase in the number of people with the incurable mind-robbing condition compared with 2010, and warned that by 2050 more than 70 per cent of people with dementia will be living in poorer countries.

Passers-by in Belgium were asked to write positive messages and stick it on the columns to raise awareness of dementia in 2012. By 2050 more than 70 per cent of people with dementia will be living in poorer countries, Alzheimer's Disease International estimates. (Sebastien Pirlet/Reuters)

"It's a global epidemic and it is only getting worse," said ADI's executive director Marc Wortmann.

"If we look into the future the numbers of elderly people will rise dramatically. It's vital that the World Health Organization makes dementia a priority, so the world is ready to face this condition."

Alzheimer's, the most common form of dementia, is a fatal brain disease that has no cure and few effective treatments.

Like other forms of the disorder, it affects patients' memory, thinking and behaviour and is an increasingly overwhelming burden on societies and economies. While there are a few drugs that can ease some symptoms in some people, there is no cure.

Even now, the global cost of dementia care is more than $600 billion, or around 1.0 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP), and that will only increase, the ADI says.

In a policy report published along with the new data, Martin Prince, a professor at King's College London's Institute of Psychiatry, said "most governments are woefully unprepared for the dementia epidemic." His report said only 13 countries have national dementia plans.

"This is a global problem that is increasingly impacting on developing countries with limited resources and little time to develop comprehensive systems of social protection, health and social care," Prince said in a statement. Click here to keep reading.